The beginning of space exploration dates back to 1957, when the Soviet Union launched its first satellite, Sputnik 1, into orbit. Four years later, the Soviets successfully sent the first man (J. Gagarin) into orbit. Afterwards, a series of space missions culmulated, all of which the first American mission to successfully land on the moon (Apollo 11 (Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin) in 1969). This was followed by an even faster space development, linked to a number of new missions and the beginning of human beings living in space. Twenty years ago, astronauts began longer space residence on the International Space Station, wherein researchers have been conducting scientific research for years - also studying the effect of space on the human physiology and the impact of different methods of sports exercise in reducing these detrimental effects.
The aim of this master's thesis is to present the up-to-date scientific findings on the environmental and physiological effects of living in space (i.e. microgravity), with an emphasis on the presentation of sports training/conditioning and diagnostics, that aims to maintain health and reduce the negative impacts of living in space with the main objective of maintaining astronauts operational capacity. To this end, an overview of original scientific research and other relevant sources was conducted in the following web databases - Pubmed, Web of Science, Science Direct, Embase, SportDiscus, Google Scholar and Cobiss. The following keywords were used - Microgravity, Muscle, Exercise, Space, Flight, Biology, NASA, iRED, bed rest, neuro-cognitive, bone, strength, endurance, TVIST, flight, medicine and cardiorespiratory.
The findings of up-to date studies carried out both, in space and those on earth (bed rest, etc.) have shown that astronauts, due to microgravity, mostly lose muscle mass predominantly in the muscles that provide upright posture and those of the lower limb muscles. There is also a marked redistribution of bodily fluids from the lower part of the body to the upper body. The volume of blood plasma is, at least acutely, reduced, as is the heart muscle volume, mostly due to the heart pump unloading due to the aforementioned fluid redistribution. As a result of these negative physiological and morphological effects, the strength and endurance of the muscles, especially of the lower part of the body, aerobic capacity are reduced and balance as well as coordination compromised.
Exercise is one of the best strategies to minimize the harmful effects of space flight. The astronaut`s training begins with systematic exercise on Earth, where the focus is predominantly on the muscle hypertrophy and aerobic endurance, then continues on the International Space Station with strength and endurance training, and finishes with regaining lost muscle and bone mass upon their return to Earth. From an exercise training device perspective, the International Space Station, currently features cycling ergometer and a treadmill to perform aerobic exercise as a prevention of cardiovascular degeneration and an inertia power training device that serves as a prevention of muscle atrophy.
New, long-duration and technically challenging space missions (Mars) are planned in the future, so it is vital that effective exercise is carried out during the space flight, which can ensure the overall preservation of health and operational capability of astronauts.
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